


the city in the sky

by yououui



Category: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Fluff, Inspired by Studio Ghibli, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:07:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23521303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yououui/pseuds/yououui
Summary: Kurogane finds a strange, floating man and before he knows it, he's whisked off into an adventure in the sky.
Relationships: Fay D. Fluorite & Kurogane, Fay D. Fluorite/Kurogane
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	the city in the sky

**Author's Note:**

> It's finally done! Based on the Studio Ghibli film "Castle in the Sky", written for @animangod, who helped me when I needed it most and waited patiently for much too many months for this to be finished. Thank you so much! I hope you enjoy this story ^^

Of all the things Kurogane had expected to see when he ventured out into the forest behind his home, an unconscious man glowing blue and floating above the river running between the trees was below even the very bottom of the list. He frowned as he thought to himself that he shouldn’t have followed the light he saw falling from the sky as he walked home, because now he was stuck figuring out what to do.

Kurogane approached the riverbank slowly and looked down at the man that hovered in front of him. Gold hair floated around his face as if in water, his skin fairer than Kurogane had ever seen, the pale blue light reflecting across high cheekbones, down a slender jaw. Kurogane was stunned for a moment, shocked still at the sight of someone so beautiful it seemed somehow inhuman. Then again, Kurogane figured, maybe the strange man wasn’t human; he was floating, after all. 

Eventually, Kurogane stepped to the edge of the riverbank and put his arms under the man to pull him close. As soon as he touched the man though, the glow faded and the man was no longer weightless. He fell heavily into Kurogane’s arms and, not expecting the sudden weight, Kurogane and the man both fell into the river.

Kurogane sputtered as he lifted himself from the water and pulled the man out as well to keep him from drowning. The man didn’t even stir from the fall or the icy water covering them. Kurogane huffed out a sigh and grumbled as he dragged the man out of the water and to the riverbank. “Oi,” Kurogane shook the stranger’s shoulders. His head lolled limply to the side into the grass and Kurogane sighed. “Great,” He murmured as he pulled the stranger up into his arms.

The man was slim, made of long limbs and deceptively heavy, but maybe that was partly due to his clothes seemingly retaining all the water that touched them. By the time Kurogane returned to his home, he was huffing with the effort of carrying the man while traversing the forest soaking wet himself.

Kurogane kicked his door open and stepped inside, then stopped, looked from the man dripping all over his floor to his dry bed. “Damn it,” Kurogane grumbled as he laid the man down on the soft bed instead of the floor.

Kurogane changed into dry clothes quickly, then pulled a chair up and looked over the man, head to toe. He was wearing strange clothes, his shirt made of deep blue velvet with swirling gold embroidery, the neckline coming up to just below his chin and the sleeves going all the way down to a point over the backs of his hands. Kurogane frowned as he took in the sight of the man; strange face, strange hair, stranger clothes. Where the hell did this man come from?

Kurogane sighed as he leaned forward to check the man for injuries. If he was hurt, Kurogane would need to take him to the doctor in the nearby town. Kurogane carefully lifted the stranger’s head, his arms, removed knee-high boots and checked for broken bones. The man seemed to be in perfect health, other than being unconscious. Kurogane crossed his arms and slumped back in the chair, his leg shaking in impatience.

Just as Kurogane was wondering if he should undress the man to keep him from getting too cold, the man finally stirred. Thin brows pinched together and long fingers twitched as the man slowly came back to consciousness, and then his eyes opened, and Kurogane felt as though he was in the sky itself when clear azure looked back at him.

Those eyes widened and the man scrambled up, pushing himself back against the wall. “Who are you?” The man asked. “Where am I?”

“I’m Kurogane, and you’re in my house,” Kurogane said. “I’m the one that found you passed out.”

The man blinked. “...Passed out?” He asked slowly, then gasped and fumbled with the front of his shirt. He reached his hand down the collar and pulled something from it, a pendant of some kind with a stone as blue and as bright as his eyes placed in the middle of it, hung on the end of a golden chain. The man sighed in relief as he held the necklace in his palm. “Thank goodness…”

Kurogane eyed the stone, then the man holding it. “What’s your name? Where did you come from?” 

“I’m Fai, and I—” The man—Fai—responded. He bit his lip and lifted his eyes from the stone to Kurogane. “I… fell.”

“Fell?” Kurogane asked as he regarded Fai incredulously. “From where, a tree?”

Fai cracked a smile and shook his head. “A bit farther, actually,” He said, pointing a finger up.

Kurogane blinked. “The sky?” He asked. “You fell from the sky?”

“That’s right, Kuro… er… what did you say your name was again?” Fai smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head.

Kurogane ignored him and stood, walked to a drawer at the opposite wall. Fai watched as he rummaged through it, and eventually Kurogane pulled something from it and turned to face Fai again. “You’re from Celes, aren’t you?” Kurogane asked as he walked back to his seat.

Fai’s eyes widened. “W-What?”

“Celes,” Kurogane said as he handed over what was in his hand; an old, worn photo torn at the corners. Fai took it and slowly looked from Kurogane to the photograph, which showed the grainy expanse of the sky and something floating in it, one with the silhouette of various buildings. Kurogane pointed at the thing in the sky. ”My father took this photo. He used to be an aviator, before I was born. He found this floating in the sky one day. Said it was the remnants of an old city.”

Fai looked down at the photo for a long moment, then swallowed and shook his head as he handed the photo back to Kurogane. “No, I’m not from there,” He said quietly. “I fell from an airship.”

“An airship?” Kurogane asked with a quirked brow.

Fai gave an exasperated smile. “Yes. You said your father was an aviator, do you really not know what an airship is?”

“Of course I know what an airship is you idiot,” Kurogane said, and he swore he felt a vein pop out on his forehead. “I’m just wondering how you could have possibly fallen from an airship and not even have a scratch on you—guess I should say floated from one. You weren’t even on the ground when I found you, you were hovering.”

Fai lifted the stone in his palm and smiled. “This saved me,” He said as he looked down at the stone like it was something precious to him, something he loved. “When I was falling, I remember seeing it shine with a blue light, and I felt myself slow down. I guess I passed out shortly after that because I can’t remember anything else. Like why I'm all wet.” Fai lifted his arm up to regard his wet sleeves, then looked at Kurogane with brow raised in curiosity.

“You fell in the river," Kurogane said with a flippant wave of his hand. "What exactly is that thing?”

“I… I don’t know, exactly,” Fai admitted as he closed his fist around the stone. “I’ve had it all my life. I didn’t think it was anything special, until some people almost killed me for it.”

“People are trying to kill you?” Kurogane couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Who _was_ this guy?

Fai nodded and frowned. “It’s why I fell. I was forced onto the airship by one person that wanted it, then attacked by another person that wanted it. During the fight, I tried to escape and ended up falling.”

“Rough day,” Kurogane murmured.

Fai bit into his lower lip, brows furrowed as he thought deeply about his situation. “I can’t stay here,” He finally said. “They’ll find me, and it’ll put you in danger. I need to get out of here.”

Fai swung his legs off the edge of the bed, but Kurogane was standing in front of him before he could move further, blocking his path. “I’m not going to just let you go out there when there are two separate groups of people hunting you down,” Kurogane said with a glare down at Fai.

Fai looked up at Kurogane with eyes wide in disbelief, then frowned in annoyance. “This isn’t your fight. You shouldn’t involve yourself.”

“I already involved myself when I decided to pluck you from the river,” Kurogane told him. “And I’m not gonna just send you out to the wolves.”

Fai stood as well, so he was standing chest to chest with Kurogane. He was almost a full head shorter than Kurogane, yet with the dangerous glint in his eyes, Kurogane almost felt like he was being looked down on. “This doesn’t concern you,” Fai said. “It’s for your own good that you stay out of it.”

The two looked at each other in silence, willing the other to surrender by sheer willpower. Finally, Kurogane sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. “Fine. Do whatever you want. But at least come into the town with me so you can get some supplies. How are you supposed to survive on the run without even a pack of food?”

Fai blinked, and the hardened fight seemed to disappear from him completely as he looked in Kurogane as if he couldn’t believe what Kurogane had just said. “Uh… Y-Yeah… Okay, I guess…”

Kurogane nodded and stepped away from Fai. “And you should get yourself some new clothes. What you’re wearing doesn’t exactly help you blend in.” He grabbed a long sword resting against the wall and slid it into his belt, then wrapped a long black cloak around his shoulders.

Fai eyed Kurogane’s blade and laughed as he sat on the bed again to pull on his still damp boots. “Thanks for the advice, Kuro—how did you say your name again?—though I think your sword will stand out more than I do.”

“It’s Kurogane and shut up about the sword. Come on,” Kurogane said as he yanked his front door open. “You wanna get out of here fast, don’t you?”

Fai zipped up his boots and ran after Kurogane out the door. The walk to the nearby town was short, but Fai looked up at the scenery surrounding him in awe, like the simple rural area was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Eventually, the dirt road they were walking on opened up to a small town lined with small houses and shops. Fai let out a quiet noise of awe, and Kurogane glanced at him, curious about how Fai could be so enamored with the simple area.

“Kurogane!” 

Kurogane caught the girl flying towards him without even a look, swinging her around and landing her gently on the ground.

“You’re not very good at sneak attacks,” Kurogane said as he ruffled the girl’s sleek black hair.

"That's because I was so excited to see you, I couldn't hold it in!" The girl swatted Kurogane’s hand away and pouted up at him. “You promised you’d visit more often!”

“And here I am,” Kurogane said with a shrug.

The girl looked over Kurogane’s shoulder, where Fai was peering down at her, and her face lit up. “Who is your friend?!” She asked while tugging on Kurogane’s sleeve. "Introduce me!"

“I don’t know if I’d call him my friend, but…” Kurogane stepped out of the way and gestured to Fai. “This is Fai.” He gestured to the girl. “And this is Tomoyo.”

“Nice to meet you,” Fai said with a charming smile.

“The pleasure is all mine!” Tomoyo said happily. “Your clothes are beautiful! Where did you get them? I’d love to make something like this!”

“Tomoyo’s really into making clothes,” Kurogane told Fai from the corner of his mouth.

“O-Oh! These are normal where I’m from,” Fai said, looking down at himself, then at Tomoyo's dress, beautiful and made of much lighter fabric. “But I suppose they are rather… different here, aren’t they?”

“They’re gorgeous!” Tomoyo insisted. “I’m going to try out a similar design when I get the chance!”

Fai smiled at her, but Kurogane stepped between them. “Okay, if I let you keep going, we’ll never get out of here.” He ruffled Tomoyo’s hair again. “I’ll see you next time, okay?”

Tomoyo grabbed Kurogane’s wrist and held onto it tightly. “You’re leaving already? You promised we’d spend the day together the next time you visited!” She cried. 

“I can’t this time,” Kurogane said. “I have to get this guy out of here. But I will next time, okay? We’ll do whatever you want.”

"Why do you both have to leave so soon though?" Tomoyo asked with a pout. "Fai-san just got here, can't you stay a little longer?"

Fai and Kurogane gave each other a look, then Kurogane sighed and knelt down to Tomoyo's level. "He's got some bad guys chasing him," He told her, brilliant lilac eyes going wide in shock. "He has to get out of here before they find him. We're just getting him some supplies, and then he has to leave." 

"Oh..." Tomoyo looked at Fai, then lowered her head sadly. "Well then... I guess there is no choice, is there?"

"Don't look so sad, Tomoyo-chan," Fai said with a cheery smile. "I'll visit again! Kuro-sama here is very entertaining, and I'd love to get to know you more!"

Tomoyo's eyes immediately lit up, and she looked at Kurogane with a fiendish grin on her face. "Kuro—!"

"No," Kurogane said, slapping his hand over her mouth to keep her from repeating the nickname. She nodded, but was giggling mischievously when he pulled his hand back. "Next time, okay?" 

“Promise!” Tomoyo demanded with the force of a mother scolding her son. “And I mean really promise! Or else I'll come find you myself!”

Kurogane chuckled and nodded. “Yeah, yeah, anything for you, princess.”

And as Fai watched the exchange from the side, he couldn’t help but smile at the soft moment he was witnessing. He had only known Kurogane for a short while, but all he could discern from the man was that he was a no-nonsense kind of man, all sharp lines and hard edges, no softness to be found. Yet, here he was, best friends with a cute young girl, treating her like his beloved little sister and offering her a smile that was… beautiful.

“Ready to go?”

Fai blinked and looked up when he realized he was being spoken to. “O-Oh! Yes!” He said with a quick nod, not missing the way Tomoyo giggled behind her sleeve.

“Is your mom in the shop?” Kurogane asked Tomoyo as he walked past her to an open door.

“Yep! Oh, please let me pick something out for the two of you!” Tomoyo pleaded as she followed after them. "I have the perfect idea!"

“Absolutely not,” Kurogane said, shutting the door behind Fai and in Tomoyo’s face.

“I think you should do it,” Fai said as Kurogane looked at the shelves lining the walls of the shop. “I think she would make you look very handsome.”

“Shut up.” Kurogane shoved Fai towards the shelves. “Pick something and change.”

Fai did as he was told, changing into a much simpler look of pants and a long-sleeved shirt. It made him blend in a bit more, though Kurogane supposed that his gold hair and bright eyes would stand out anywhere. Still, he looked a bit more human now and less like an elf or a fae hiding its ears. Kurogane's jaw tightened as his eyes landed on a strip of pale skin peeking from the hem of Fai's shirt, just short enough to show a thin expanse of his flat belly.

“Looks good, right?” Fai asked, holding his arms out to show himself off. Kurogane took a moment, then answered with a low grunt. “I’ll take that as a yes!” Fai said happily as he followed Kurogane to the counter, where a woman with sharp eyes and a striking resemblance to Tomoyo was waiting for them.

“Tell your daughter to stop trying to dress me,” Kurogane said as he threw some coins on the counter.

“That would be like telling a fish to stop swimming,” The woman said as she pocketed the coins with a wink. “Who’s your new friend?”

“An idiot,” Kurogane grumbled.

“I’m Fai,” Fai interjected. “I’m just passing through, and Kuro-sama here is helping me out.”

The woman’s eyes got as bright as her daughter's. “Kuro—?”

“Don’t,” Kurogane said sharply before turning to leave.

Fai laughed and waved to the woman as he followed Kurogane out of the shop. “You need to learn to have more fun, Kuro-sama!”

“I’d rather not have _your_ type of fun,” Kurogane snapped. “And stop calling me that, my name is Kurogane.”

Fai laughed again and patted Kurogane on the shoulder. “Oh, come on! It’s not that—“

Fai stopped suddenly and yanked on Kurogane’s shoulder, pulling him back into the doorway. “What?” Kurogane asked as he stumbled back and looked down at Fai, who was eyeing someone outside the shop.

“He’s one of the pirates that attacked me,” Fai hissed, pointing lowly to a man walking down the path, smiling cheerily with thin sunglasses perched low on his nose, his eyes scanning the area. 

Kurogane narrowed his eyes, noticing the blaster holstered at the man’s hip, the man’s hand resting over it. “We have to sneak out of here,” Kurogane whispered, stepping back more into the shop.

" _I_ have to sneak out of here," Fai clarified. "You're free to go. In fact, you probably should before things get too ugly."

"I'm not just gonna run away," Kurogane hissed, turning his eyes from the pirate to glare at Fai. "Especially not if that guy is a threat to everyone else here."

Fai looked at Kurogane with his mouth open to disagree, but they were interrupted when someone poked Kurogane on the back and he turned to look over his shoulder. Tomoyo was behind him, looking much more serious than she did before. “Follow me,” She whispered to them.

“How the hell did you get behind us?” Kurogane asked as he and Fai followed her through the shop.

She didn’t answer, leading them instead behind the counter, to a door along the back wall. “He was asking about Fai,” Tomoyo told them. ”I didn't tell him anything. I got a bad feeling from him.”

“You were right,” Fai told her. “He's one of the men trying to find me. Thank you, Tomoyo.”

“Keep each other safe,” Tomoyo told them as she opened the door for them. “Make sure you come back with all your limbs.”

“Tch. Who do you think you’re talking to?” Kurogane asked with a gentle knock against her head before stepping out of the shop.

Fai offered Tomoyo a thankful smile and followed Kurogane out. As soon as they stepped out, however, Fai slapped an arm over Kurogane’s chest and pressed him flat against the wall of the building. “There’s another one,” Fai whispered, lifting his chin to gesture into the trees surrounding the town.

Kurogane looked out and saw a boy, not looking any older than fourteen, eyes determined and his lips drawn into a tight frown. “The kid?” Kurogane asked.

“He’s harmless,” Fai told him. “But he’ll call his friends that aren’t so friendly.”

“I found him.”

Fai and Kurogane both blinked and looked to their left, where a young girl with auburn hair and bright green eyes was looking at them. She smiled sweetly at the two of them, and another man came around the corner behind her, one with a beautiful face and a sharp eyes that held a dangerous glint. Unlike the two kids that seemed to have no weapons on them, this man had a blaster already in his hand.

“Now what?” Kurogane asked, not looking away from the man.

“Run,” Was all Fai said before the two were speeding into the trees.

Thin branches and leaves whipped into their faces as they ran, hearing the steps of the man and the two kids running behind them. “You have _kids_ trying to kill you?!” Kurogane yelled as they hopped over roots and through bushes.

“Don’t think it’s safe because there’s a couple kids with them!” Fai yelled back. “Their friends are—“

A blast shot out and barely missed Fai’s head, blowing through the tree next to him and sending him falling off course. Kurogane skidded to a halt and turned, but stopped when the man with the sunglasses stepped out from the trees, his blaster out. The two kids and the other man ran up behind him, circling around Kurogane and Fai. Fai lifted himself up on his elbows and glared at the man.

“Make this easy on yourself, Fai,” The man said as he pointed his gun at Fai, lifting his sunglasses to rest on the top of his head and grinning. “We don’t want to hurt you. We just want the amulet.”

“And I don’t want to give it to you,” Fai said with a bitter smile. “So it seems as though we’re at a bit of a standstill.”

“Indeed,” The man said, and his gun began glowing with a pale blue light, charging up.

Before he could fire though, there was a flash of silver and then half of the barrel of the gun fell to the ground, cut cleanly off. Kurogane stood in front of Fai, his sword out and pointed at the man.

“W-What the hell?!” The man cried as he looked from his ruined gun to Kurogane’s sword. “What the hell is that thing made of?!”

“Stop playing around Fuuma!” The other man yelled as he took a step closer to Fai with his own gun pointed and ready.

There was another blast that knocked the man and the girl by his side to the ground. “Kamui! Sakura!” Fuuma yelled. The boy ran over to him, sticking close.

Kurogane grabbed Fai’s arm and pulled him to his feet as another man stepped towards them. He was smiling serenely, wearing a uniform of deep green. “My deepest thanks for finding him for me, pirate,” The man said. “Though since you’re the one that caused him to get lost in the first place when you attacked us… I suppose it was the least you could do.”

“Fuck off, Kyle,” Fuuma hissed at the man.

Kurogane tightened his hold on Fai, eyes narrow and flicking between the men. Kyle opened his mouth to say something else, but was cut off by a blast that sent him jumping back to avoid it, one sent from the girl, who was kneeling on the ground, gun out and steady in her hands.

Kurogane took the chance. Hand tight on Fai’s wrist, he turned and ran into the trees, Fai close behind. Footsteps and mis-aimed blasts followed them, causing them to duck as they ran, not caring for which way they went as long as it brought them to safety.

A blast hit the ground near their feet, sending them both flying forward through a line of trees and into an open area covered in grass and moss. They landed separate from each other, and Fai opened his eyes to find Kyle in front of him, gun pointed dangerously close to Fai. 

“Fei Wang Reed’s waiting for us,” Kyle said.

“And he’ll be waiting for a while,” Fai said before pushing himself up on his hands and sweeping one foot out against Kyle’s ankles.

Kyle jumped back to avoid Fai's kick, but Fai was quick and able to jump up and grab Kyle's wrist, twisting until the blaster fell from his hand and clattered to the ground. At the same time, Kyle grabbed at Fai’s neck with his other hand, until his fingers closed around the amulet, and pulled. Fai cried out as the chain was pulled taut against his neck, digging into the skin there. Kyle pulled so hard that Fai stumbled closer to him, but the chain refused to snap.

Kurogane’s blade reflected sunlight as he swung at Kyle, who released Fai at once to avoid the brunt of the swipe, blood splattering against the ground from the arm that had been holding Fai. Kurogane grabbed Fai and yanked him back, holding his blade out in defense. Kyle swore and pulled another blaster from inside his coat, pointing it squarely at Kurogane and firing without hesitation. Kurogane jumped out of the way with Fai, the blast instead hitting the ground behind them. Kyle stepped towards them, and the pirates arrived behind him, stepping out from the line of trees.

Kurogane and Fai took a few steps back, putting more distance between them and their attackers. Before anyone could do anything, however, the ground beneath their feet shook. Kyle and the pirates all jumped back as the earth cracked from Kyle's blast, spreading and splintering until it started crumbling away, sending Kurogane and Fai falling into nothingness with a cry.

Their voices echoed around them as they fell into darkness. Kurogane held onto Fai to make sure they didn’t get separated as they fell, and felt Fai’s slim fingers curl into his clothes as he held him back. Then, a pale blue light began glowing from Fai’s chest, shining on their faces, surrounding them and slowing their fall. Fai’s tightly closed eyes blinked open and he looked down at the stone hanging around his neck, then up at Kurogane as they floated slowly to the ground. 

The two stood on the ground for a long moment, just looking at each other, hands still gripping the other. At once, they both let go and took a step back, the amulet continuing to glow and illuminate the dark space around them. Kurogane blinked when he felt something warm and wet on his palm and looked down at his hand to find blue light reflecting off of dark blood.

Kurogane immediately looked at Fai, who seemed to notice at the same time and looked down at his arm. His new shirt was torn at his upper arm, revealing pale skin cut open in a gash and oozing blood slowly.

Kurogane grabbed Fai’s wrist to look at the wound closer, his brows pulled together in worry. Fai smiled sheepishly and tried to pull himself free. “I’m fine, Kuro-sama, really. It must have happened when we fell, but it doesn’t hurt at all.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Kurogane said sharply. ‘It could get infected, and _then_ it’ll hurt. Damn it… We didn’t have time to grab a first aid kit before those assholes ambushed us. Now we’re stuck down here.”

“And… Where is here, exactly?” Fai asked as he looked around, darkness surrounding them on all sides.

“One of the old mines,” Kurogane told him, and he finally released Fai’s arm though his worried expression didn’t leave as he continued eyeing the cut. “The town used to be a mining town, ‘till there was nothing left to dig up.”

“Then… I suppose we should pick a direction and walk,” Fai said with a wavering smile. "It doesn't seem like there's any way out from here."

“Good thing you had that thing around your neck,” Kurogane said as he gestured to their left and began walking in that direction. “Even if we survived the fall, we wouldn’t be able to see a thing down here.”

“Yes, very lucky,” Fai said nonchalantly. “Other than the fact that it’s the reason we had to run and are stuck down here in the first place.”

“The ones that chased us down here, they were the ones on the airship?” Kurogane asked as they walked down the tunnel, no noise except their footsteps and echoing voices and the occasional drip of water from somewhere far off.

“Kyle was the one that took me on the airship,” Fai nodded. “I was trying to think of a way to escape when Fuuma and Kamui burst in to take the amulet for themselves. I used the distraction to run, but the only way out was… well… out the window.”

Kurogane stopped and looked at Fai with wide eyes. “You jumped?”

“No!” Fai shook his head and waved his hands back and forth in front of himself. “I just… Tried to hide! Outside my window… and slipped and fell.”

Kurogane stared at Fai in disbelief for a moment before shaking his head and running his hand down his face. “You’re the dumbest person I’ve ever met…”

“I didn’t die, so it’s okay!” Fai said with a pat on Kurogane’s arm to keep him walking. “All thanks to my hero!”

“Maybe I’m the idiot…” Kurogane murmured to himself as he continued walking with Fai.

Blue light reflected on something that glinted in the corner of Fai’s eye, and he looked down at the sword at Kurogane’s hip, a bit of the hilt peeking out from under his cloak, a silver dragon’s head with ruby eyes looking back at Fai. Fai gestured to it. “Your sword,” He started, and Kurogane looked down at the hilt himself. “It’s made of Valerian steel, isn’t it?”

Kurogane raised a brow and looked at Fai. “How did you know?” He asked.

Fai smiled and looked back in front of them. “I come from Valeria,” He said. “So I know that only Valerian steel could cut something like a metal blaster so cleanly in half like that. It’s very rare though; this is maybe only the second or third time I’ve ever seen it in my life.”

“It belonged to my father,” Kurogane said as he laid his hand over the dragon’s head. “And his father and probably his father, too. I’m not entirely sure how it got to our family, all I know is that we’ve had it for a long time.”

Fai looked at Kurogane and smiled. “It’s incredible. And beautiful.”

Kurogane nodded, then cast Fai a sidelong glance. “Valeria, huh? I’ve never met anyone from there. You ended up a long way from home.”

Fai nodded and looked ahead of him again, his smile slipping away. “Yeah… I guess so.”

They fell into silence for a long moment, until Fai cleared his throat and opened his mouth to speak, keeping his eyes forward to avoid looking at Kurogane. “I’m really grateful for all you’ve done to help me, Kuro-sama, truly,” He began quietly. “But once we get out of here, you should just… go home. Forget about all of this, and go back to where you belong.”

Kurogane was silent for a moment after Fai spoke, and Fai worried that Kurogane was giving him the silent treatment out of anger or something. Then, Kurogane said lowly, “I don’t know how many times I have to say something for it to get through your thick skull, but like I already said, I’m not going to leave you alone to fend for yourself.”

Fai’s brows furrowed together and he looked at Kurogane, confused. “But why?” He asked. “You’ve seen how dangerous it is, so why—“

“That’s exactly why,” Kurogane replied. “I’ve seen how dangerous it is, so I’m not going to just let you run off into it alone.”

Fai regarded Kurogane for a long moment, then turned his gaze forward again. “Why do you care?” Fai asked after another minute of silence, his voice soft. “You don’t even know me, so why…?”

“I may be a nobody person from a nobody town that has no idea what I’m signing myself up for by helping you,” Kurogane said quietly. “But I’m not the kind of guy that’ll just abandon someone. Especially not if I know I can help them. And besides, when else will I have an opportunity to go on an adventure with an idiot and band of pirates?”

Fai blinked and looked up at Kurogane again. Kurogane kept his gaze forward, steady, and Fai felt something swell in his chest as he looked at those determined eyes, still burning bright red even in the darkness of the mine. Fai smiled to himself and looked ahead, as well.

They walked for a while, for so long that Kurogane felt the blood on his palm dry and begin to flake off. Fai fiddled with the amulet, casting long shadows across the walls they walked by, and frowned. “Are you sure we’re going the right way?” He asked.

“I can feel a draft coming from this way,” Kurogane said. “It should mean there’s an opening.”

“If you say so…” Fai said apprehensively.

Kurogane looked down at Fai, who in turn looked down at the lit amulet. His eyes, the same shade of brilliant blue as the stone, looked as though they were glowing from within from the light reflecting in them.

“Where did you get that thing, anyway?” Kurogane asked. When Fai looked up at him with those shining eyes, he felt something inexplicable tighten in his chest and looked away.

“My mother gave it to me,” Fai said. He lifted the amulet in the flat of his palm and smiled a bit. “She used to tell me it was very special, and I had to keep it safe. She told me it was magic, and even taught me prayers to say while wearing it. According to her, the prayers could bring me to safety, or cause destruction.” Fai frowned as he looked down at the stone, his eyes dark, sorrowful. “I used to think she was insane,” He said after a moment. “That she just put too much faith into old folklore. But it turns out… She was right.” He looked up at Kurogane and smiled softly. “Though I haven’t tried any of the spells out yet.”

“And… How did all those people find you?” Kurogane asked quietly.

Fai shrugged. “I’m not sure. I was a nobody person, too, from a tiny town way up north in Valeria. Then one day, Kyle showed up and demanded I come with him. He said someone named Fei Wang Reed had been looking for me and the amulet for a long time. He said it was a matter of life or death, and I had to go with him.”

“Tell me you didn’t willingly go with that asshole,” Kurogane said, eyeing Fai apprehensively.

Fai laughed and shook his head. “I’m not that much of an idiot, Kuro-sama. No, I was so shocked by what he was saying, I guess I didn’t have my guard up. He knocked me out and when I woke up, I was on the airship, disguised as a passenger.”

“Hmph, coward,” Kurogane grumbled to himself. “Next time I see him, I’m going to knock him out myself. See how he likes it.”

Fai laughed and shook his head. “You did get a good hit on him before. And got me out of a tight spot.”

“I guess…” Kurogane murmured. “Is your neck okay?”

Fai rubbed his neck, where a thin red line was still pressed into the pale skin there. “I’m fine. I’m just surprised the chain didn’t break.”

“Maybe it’s some more of that magic,” Kurogane said, and Fai smiled at him.

“Yeah, maybe,” He concurred.

Kurogane gave him a sidelong glance and offered a small smile, just a tiny thing, but it made Fai’s stomach feel funny. He looked ahead and cleared his throat.

“So, that Fei Wang Reed guy,” Kurogane said. “Who is he exactly?”

“Kyle told me they’re part of the military,” Fai said with a shrug of his shoulders. “Apparently they’re trying to get the amulet for some high security, top secret mission, or something. The pirates interrupted before he could tell me much more.”

“Hmph,” Kurogane frowned. “He’s scum. What kind of military official knocks out and kidnaps someone? I thought they were supposed to protect the people.”

“Yeah, I thought so too… Ah, look!” Fai cried as he pointed forward. “I see some light!”

“Finally,” Kurogane sighed. “I’m getting tired of being down here.”

Fai laughed and grabbed Kurogane’s arm to drag him along quicker, until the tunnel opened up and they were finally out of the mine and under bright sunlight again. Fai sighed and spread his uninjured arm out, basking in the warm light. They were in a green area, the trees here more sparse than where they first began, flowers sprouting up from the grass. Fai looked around, until he spotted a house tucked away to the left of the mine.

The house was surrounded by a lush garden that contrasted sharply with the black exterior walls. It looked nothing like the simple buildings Fai had seen in Kurogane’s town, instead having ornate architecture decorating the rooftop and intricate designs carved into the wood railing lining the large deck in front of the door.

“What the…?” Kurogane asked as he stepped closer to the house. “How long has this been here?”

Just then, the front door opened, and out stepped a beautiful woman with long black hair, held half up with sparkling butterfly pins, wearing a black dress that reached her ankles with large, sweeping sleeves. Heavy lidded eyes as red as blood landed on the pair, and the woman smirked.

“Ah, I was wondering when you two would show up,” She said in a silky voice. “Hurry up, come inside for a drink.”

She turned and walked back into her home without waiting for Kurogane and Fai to answer. The two looked at each other, then tentatively stepped through the gate surrounding the garden and up to the front door. They stepped inside to an entrance lined with shelves that housed seemingly random objects.

The woman was in a room to their left, grabbing glasses from a cabinet. “Clean yourselves up, then have a drink,” She said, pointing towards them.

They followed her hand and looked to their right, which opened up to another room where medical supplies and a change of clothes awaited them. Kurogane and Fai looked at each other, then did as she said and went into the room. They sat at the small table in the middle of the room holding their new supplies, and Kurogane gestured towards Fai.

“I can bandage your arm,” He said.

Fai blinked, like he had forgotten that he had a gash in his arm, then nodded. He slowly pulled his arm from the sleeve, wincing when the fabric dried to his skin from his blood pulled free. He turned so his arm was facing Kurogane, his shirt half on. Kurogane nodded and set to work. He grabbed cotton pads and the bottle of alcohol sitting by them, and carefully began dabbing Fai’s wound clean. He checked every few now and then to see how Fai was doing, but Fai was able to mostly hold back any signs of pain, only wincing slightly when the cotton pad swept right over the wound.

“You know,” Fai said quietly into the space between them as he watched Kurogane work on wrapping gauze around the wound. “I’ve never had anyone care enough to help me like this.”

Kurogane paused and looked up at Fai, and ruby met sapphire for the briefest of moments before Kurogane focused back on the task at hand. “Seems like your mother cared a little,” Kurogane murmured.

Fai gave a small snort full of sarcasm and shook his head. “She cared about the stone, not necessarily about me.” He paused, swallowed. “After she passed away, I felt like I was just… stuck there. Like I couldn’t move, and I was just waiting for someone to come and… take me away.”

Kurogane looked up at Fai again, and this time when their eyes met, their gazes lingered. Neither looked away, and there was something warm swimming deep in the icy blue of Fai’s eyes. Kurogane felt like he was lost at sea looking into those eyes, like he would drown in them. He swallowed and opened his mouth to say something as Fai’s lips drew up in the smallest of smiles—

“Are you two done yet?”

Both men jumped when the strange woman appeared in the doorway, looking down at the two of them with a brow raised.

“Uh, s-sorry,” Fai stammered as Kurogane hastily finished bandaging his arm.

The woman rolled her eyes and moved out of the room as both men stood to change, standing on opposite sides of the room as they slipped into the clothes provided for them. They both turned when they finished, both dressed in somehow perfectly fitted outfits, simply made up of a black long sleeved shirt and pants.

Fai turned and walked out of the room without saying anything, and Kurogane followed after him. The woman was waiting for them in the other room, sat on a cushion in front of a short table with a bottle of wine and a glass in front of her. On the other side of the table were two more glasses and cushions, so Kurogane and Fai took their seats and looked at the woman sitting across from them.

“So… Are you going to tell us who you are?” Kurogane asked as she opened the bottle and poured them all drinks.

“I’m Yuuko,” The woman answered. 

She finished pouring their drinks and lifted her glass to take a sip. Kurogane furrowed his brows in annoyance. “That’s it?” He asked. “Are we supposed to know you?”

“Oh no, I imagine not,” Yuuko said with a sharp smile. “But I know the two of you, and I know you’re on the run to keep that crystal hanging around your neck safe.”

She looked pointedly at Fai, who instinctively wrapped a hand around the stone against his chest. “Do you know what this is?” He asked her. “And why so many people want it?”

“Of course I do,” She said. “That stone is Fluorite, an incredibly rare mineral used to keep floating cities aloft.”

“Floating cities?” Kurogane asked.

Yuuko looked at him. “Yes. Like Celes.”

Kurogane’s eyes widened and he looked down at the crystal in Fai’s hand. “So… My father was right? Celes is real?”

“Incredibly so,” Yuuko said with a nod as Kurogane and Fai looked at the stone in disbelief. “Fluorite was used to power cities like Celes, and to keep it in the sky. Even such a small piece like this holds tremendous strength, as I’m sure you’ve seen.”

“Why do people want it then?” Kurogane asked, finally looking up from the amulet. “To get to Celes?”

“Perhaps,” Yuuko said with a nod. “Or for wealth. This stone could give a man enough money to keep his family rich for generations. That’s why you must protect it.”

Fai blinked and looked up at Yuuko when he realized she was addressing him. “Protect it?” He asked. 

“Power like this corrupts,” Yuuko told him. “People will use this stone to reach the stars, but Fluorite belongs with the earth. Just as we do.”

Fai regarded her words and his gaze slid slowly back down to the stone in his hand. “...And I ended up with it…?”

“Indeed you did,” Yuuko said as she sipped at her wine again. “There is no such thing as coincidence, only destiny.”

Kurogane and Fai looked at each other briefly.

“Now, drink up,” Yuuko said, pushing their glasses closer to them. “You’ll have to be leaving soon. Might as well have some good wine before you go.”

The three of them drank until the bottle of wine was finished, and then Yuuko gave them lunch and sent them on their way. Kurogane placed his sword at his hip and threw his cloak over his shoulders as they walked towards the door.

“Thank you,” He said to Yuuko. “For helping us.”

“It’s what I’m here for,” Yuuko said as she opened the door for them. “And I shall be here should you ever need it again. Always. Now, go. And good luck.”

Fai smiled at her in thanks as he walked past her and out into her garden. Once the two of them were past the garden’s gate, they heard Yuuko shut the door.

“So strange,” Fai said as the two of them walked away. “She knew so much.”

“She knew _us,_ ” Kurogane said.

Fai frowned and turned to give the house one last fleeting look. They walked in silence for a long moment, the trees clearing up as they went. Then suddenly, Fai stopped. Kurogane stopped as well and turned to look back at Fai, one brow raised in question.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” Fai said, eyes pointed at the ground.

“Okay,” Kurogane said as he turned to face Fai fully, giving him his full attention.

Fai took a deep breath and wrapped a hand around the stone. “I told you I wasn’t from Celes,” Fai began, still avoiding Kurogane’s gaze. “But I—well, you see—when my mother gave me this, she said I inherited it... and my true name. And… I’ve never actually _been_ to Celes, but... my mother told me when she gave this to me that my true name is Fai Di… Celes.”

Kurogane blinked and his eyes narrowed his thought. “So that means you’re…” Then he trailed off, thought for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders and said, “All right.”

Fai finally lifted his eyes to look at Kurogane. “What do you mean, “all right”?”

“I mean, all right,” Kurogane said again as he turned to continue walking.

Fai jumped in front of him, stopping Kurogane in his tracks. “But I lied to you,” He said. “Why aren’t you upset that I lied?”

“I figured you were probably keeping something to yourself,” Kurogane said with a nonchalant shrug. “From the way you reacted when you saw the picture. But… It’s not my business. I don’t care about your past. Besides, if you look at it the right way, you didn’t lie at all.”

Fai frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I asked you if you were from Celes,” Kurogane said. “You’ve never been there, so you weren’t technically lying when you said no. Your name might be Celes, but that doesn’t mean it’s your home.” Kurogane cast Fai a sidelong glance and offered a teasing little smile.

Fai blinked wide blue eyes. Then he smiled, a small, exasperated smile. “Kuro-sama, you’re…”

Before Fai could finish, someone jumped out from behind one of the trees at them, and the blunt handle of a gun hit Kurogane over the head and sent him to the ground. Fai cried out and fell on top of Kurogane in an attempt to protect him when more assailants revealed themselves from their hiding spaces.

“Kuro-sama!” Fai cried as he shook Kurogane’s shoulders. “Kuro-sama, get up! You have to get up!”

“You two were difficult to track,” Came a smooth voice. Fai looked up and saw Kyle behind him, smiling wickedly. “Lucky for us, we found you before those pirates could.”

And before Fai could say anything else, he was knocked out cold as well.

\--

Fai groaned as he stirred, his head throbbing. At least whatever he was lying on was soft and comfortable…

_The amulet… Kurogane..._

Fai blinked his eyes open and sat up quickly, looking around. He was in a large, lavishly decorated room, lying on a plush bed. He scrambled to his feet and ran to the window. Wherever he was, it wasn’t an airship. It looked like an island, with grey, choppy waters stretched out as far as he could see. He was high up as well, and when he looked down, it was to a steep drop to jagged rocks below. He didn’t want to risk trying to escape out of _this_ window. He stepped back and looked around the room. Where was he? And where was Kurogane?

“Finally awake.”

Fai turned around to face a man standing in the doorway, one with broad shoulders and sharp eyes, white strands streaking through spiked black hair like devil horns. His jaw was strong and square, his smile cold and intimidating. “You’re Fei Wang Reed, I’m assuming?” Fai asked quietly.

“I’m happy to see you’re safe, Fai,” Fei Wang Reed said as he stepped into the room and shut the door behind him. “I was very worried when you slipped from the airship. And I apologize for Kyle, I told him not to be so rough. I hope you weren’t hurt too badly.”

“Where are we?” Fai asked quickly. “Where is Kurogane?”

“This place is called Taishaku,” Fei Wang Reed told him. “And your friend is here as well, in one of the tower cells.”

Fai glared at Fei Wang Reed. He had to get out of here, but how? Surely this place would be guarded heavily. His eyes scanned the room, and landed on something in the corner behind Fei Wang Reed. Fei Wang Reed followed his gaze and turned to look with a smile.

“Ah, yes, I wanted to show this to you,” Fei Wang Reed said as he walked over to the item and began pulling it forward. It looked like an… Egg. A metal egg that came up just to Fei Wang Reed's knees. “This fell from the sky one day. It’s our proof.”

“Proof of what?” Fai asked apprehensively.

“Proof of Celes,” Fei Wang Reed told him. “This robot could have come from nowhere but there. But… Surely you already knew that.”

“Why would I know that?” Fai asked bitterly.

“Because you are from Celes,” Fei Wang Reed said with a knowing smile that made Fai’s heart hammer against his ribs. “You are Fai Di Celes, and that name can mean only one thing: you are the last member of the ancient Celesian royal family.”

“How do you... Royal?” Fai’s eyes widened and he shook his head. “No, that isn’t possible.”

“But it is,” Fei Wang Reed told him, stepping closer to him again. “Where else could your mother have found this amulet, why would she have given you your name?”

“My mother was insane,” Fai said angrily. “She couldn’t stand it when father left, and when Yuu—” Fai cut himself off with a sharp breath. He swallowed and shook his head. “She wanted to be more than she really was. She believed her stories, and found this stone by coincidence.”

“She didn’t,” Fei Wang Reed said. “This stone is connected to you. Why else do you think it responds so strongly to your needs? Protects you from death, gives you light in the darkness? It knows who you are, and so it protects you. It won’t even let itself leave your side.”

Fai's hand immediately went to the back of his neck where the chain, refusing to break, had nearly cut into his skin. He looked back up at Fei Wang Reed. “And what does any of that matter?” He asked.

“It matters because this stone will lead us to Celes!” Fei Wang Reed said in a voice growing more and more excited. “You can lead us to Celes, where you belong!”

Fai instinctively took a step back from Fei Wang Reed. He thought of Valeria, the abandoned mine, the woods, Kurogane. “I don’t belong there,” He said quietly.

Fei Wang Reed regarded Fai for a moment and sighed, shaking his head. “I didn’t want to tell you this and scare you,” He said slowly. “But we are worried that Celes may pose a great threat to us. It is imperative that we get there, and you and that amulet are the only ones that can lead us there.”

“Even if I wanted to, I can’t,” Fai told him. “I don’t know how this thing works, and I don’t know where Celes is.”

“Then help us,” Fei Wang Reed implored. "We can all learn, together.

Fai swallowed. “I don’t…”

“If we must,” Fei Wang Reed interrupted. “We wouldn’t be above using your friend to… persuade you.”

Fai’s eyes widened and he shook his head. “He doesn’t have anything to do with this!” He cried as Fei Wang Reed walked away. “Just let him go home!”

“I would love to be able to do that,” Fei Wang Reed said quietly. “And I would like to avoid hurting the poor boy, if I could, but if it’s the only way to convince you…”

Fei Wang Reed opened the door and snapped. Immediately, two guards followed him back into the room, dragging Kurogane between them. He had a split lip and a bruise forming on his cheekbone. He was thrown in front of Fai, who knelt down to him.

“Kuro-sama, are you okay?” He asked quietly, putting his hands on Kurogane's shoulders to help him up.

“Fine,” Kurogane said as he lifted himself to his knees. He offered Fai a smile, almost like he was trying to comfort Fai. “These assholes can’t get to me that easily.”

Fai smiled shakily and nodded. “Good…” He breathed. He looked over Kurogane’s shoulders, at Fei Wang Reed who was watching them with cold eyes, at the two guards with hands on their blasters. He swallowed and took a deep breath, standing to put space between himself and Kurogane. “Kuro-sama… I want you to go home.”

Kurogane narrowed his eyes and looked up at Fai. “This again? I already told you, I’m not—”

“Kurogane.”

Kurogane fell silent at once, shocked by Fai’s cold, sharp tone and the first time he had ever heard his full name in Fai’s voice. He hadn't realized how used to hearing the nickname he had become after such a short time, and hearing his proper name made him feel... strange. Shut out.

“I’m not asking,” Fai said, his voice still icy. “Go home. Go far away from here, back to where you belong, like I said before.”

Kurogane looked up at Fai in disbelief, and Fai lowered his gaze and turned away. “Fai…” Kurogane said quietly. “No… I’m—”

Before he could finish, the guards dragged him to his feet, and Fei Wang Reed stood between him and Fai. “Here,” Fei Wang Reed said, handing a pouch that jingled with coins to one of the guards. “For you, Kurogane, for all your trouble. Go off and do as you please with it, but it would do you best to forget about all of this. Forget about Celes, the amulet, forget about Fai, and go.”

Kurogane narrowed his eyes and tried to look past Fei Wang Reed. “Fai—!” He called.

Fai still wasn’t looking at him though, and with another nod from Fei Wang Reed, the guards dragged him out of the room. Kurogane struggled against them as they dragged him off, yelling for Fai even when he was being led to a hangar full of small airships.

He was thrown into one, his wrists cuffed to a pipe in the corner. He pulled as hard as he could as the airship lifted into the sky and flew away from the large fortress Fai was still trapped in. The metal of the pipe managed to bend a bit, and Kurogane grunted as he pulled harder and harder, the metal groaning under his strength but not giving in. He wasn't sure how long he sat there, trying to pull himself free until his wrists were bruised and red, but before he knew it, the ship landed, and the cuffs were removed. Kurogane was thrown out of the airship onto soft grass, the pouch of money and his sword landing on the ground beside him. The guards on the airship didn’t say a single word to him as they retreated back into the ship.

“Hey!” Kurogane yelled as he jumped to his feet, but the ship was already in the air again, flying away.

Kurogane looked around. He was… Home. His small house sat just a small distance away. From here, it almost felt as though the fortress didn’t even exist, so far away he couldn’t even figure out which direction it was in. It felt like a completely different world compared to the humble, green area of his home, like he had been sent to a completely different dimension.

So, it was over.

Kurogane set his jaw and swallowed, staring up at the sky where the airship disappeared. He clenched his hands into fists at his side. He knelt down and picked up his sword, then the pouch of money, weighing it in his hand.

Such little time had passed, yet it felt like it had lasted... forever. His life was thrown into super speed the moment he plucked Fai from the river, and just as quickly, it came screeching to a halt. He was back to his normal life, his home, back to return to the same routine he had grown accustomed to after so many years of monotony. He hadn't thought about it hard in the moment, but in hindsight, it had felt as though the journey with Fai would last a lifetime, and yet it was over before it could truly begin. And he supposed he shouldn’t be too upset. It was not as though he had spent years on a journey with Fai just to be tossed to the side, and yet…

Kurogane sighed. Surely Fai didn’t want him to leave; the look on his face after he told him to go spoke volumes to Kurogane, even if Fai stayed silent. But maybe Kurogane didn’t know Fai well enough to be sure… And besides, what could he do now? It wasn’t as though he could find his way back to wherever Fei Wang Reed was holding Fai. Even if he could, how long would it take for him to get there without an airship? Maybe he should do what he was told and just… forget about it.

Kurogane walked slowly across the grass to his home, eyes downcast. When he reached the door, he took hold of the knob, twisted, and then the door was yanked open from the other side, pulling Kurogane so hard he stumbled forward and crashed to the floor of his home.

“What the hell?!” He cried as he moved to sit up on his knees. He looked up to the sight of a blaster pointed at his face, and behind it, the pirates from before. He narrowed his eyes and scowled. “You guys again? What the hell are you doing in my house?”

“We’re using it,” Fuuma said with a grin. “I mean, it wasn’t like you were needing it.”

“Well, I’m back now, so if you wouldn’t mind,” Kurogane said, eyes narrowed and hand on the hilt of his sword.

“Where’s the amulet?” Kamui asked, not moving his gun, finger positioned dangerously over the trigger.

He and Kurogane glared at each other for a moment. “With Fai,” Kurogane said eventually. “Who was captured by Fei Wang Reed.”

Kamui narrowed his eyes at Kurogane, and Kurogane saw his finger tighten just slightly over the trigger. Before he could execute Kurogane in cold blood, however, the girl, Sakura, placed her hand over the barrel and lowered the gun. She stepped between Kamui and Kurogane and looked between the two of them with a sweet smile.

“No need to start a fight,” She said. “It won’t do anyone any good.”

Kurogane eyed her, wondering how such a sweet looking and young girl got caught up working as a pirate.

Fuuma gave a dramatic sigh as Kamui relented and put his gun away, rolling his eyes. “We have to chase after Fei Wang Reed again?” Fuuma asked, pouting like a child that was just told he had to do his chores for a bit of candy.

“Yeah, and you’re gonna take me with you,” Kurogane said as he stood up, making all four pirates look at him. “We can help each other. I’ll help you get the necklace if you help me get Fai.”

“What, so you can take the amulet for yourself?” Kamui asked with a scoff. He crossed skinny arms over a narrow chest and shook his head. “That’s not going to happen.”

“I don’t give a damn about some piece of rock,” Kurogane said, glaring at the man. “Take the amulet for all I care. The only thing I care about is—”

Kurogane cut himself off sharply. He caught eyes with Sakura, who was smiling at him with a knowing glint in her eye, reminding him dangerously of Tomoyo. Kurogane shook his head and looked back to Fuuma and Kamui.

“I want to rescue Fai from that asshole,” Kurogane told them. “I don’t really care if he comes with or without the amulet. So you help me get him, and you can have the amulet that’s with him. It makes sense that we help each other.”

Kamui and Fuuma shared a look of apprehension. “I say we do it,” Sakura said. “He is right, after all. What we all want is in the same place, so why not help each other?”

Fuuma looked at her, and then at the young boy at his side. “What do you think, Syaoran?”

“I agree with Sakura!” The boy said enthusiastically. He looked at the girl with hearts in his eyes, so obviously enamored that Kurogane snorted.

Kamui looked at Kurogane again with the same cold indifference he wore so easily. “You realize you might not get the chance to return here, right?” He asked, lifting a thin eyebrow. “You’re joining a band of pirates going against a bunch of dangerous people that hold some pretty powerful positions. You could be on the run for the rest of your life.”

“Then we’ll all be in the same boat,” Kurogane said with a shrug. “I’ve made up my mind already. You can’t talk me out of it.”

Kamui pursed his lips. “He is good manpower,” Fuuma said with a shrug. “Just know that if you try to take the amulet, we’ll throw you and your friend off our ship.”

“Not a problem,” Kurogane told him easily. “Can we go now?”

“Impatient,” Kamui murmured irritably as he stepped around Sakura and pushed past Kurogane to leave the house.

“We’re going to finish stealing your stuff to stock our ship,” Fuuma said with a grin. “Do whatever you need to do before we leave. Like… Maybe change? You look pretty beat up, my friend.”

Kurogane rolled his eyes as the three other pirates left the house to help Kamui. “Hey kid,” He called after Syaoran, the last one to leave. Syaoran stopped and turned as Kurogane tossed him the bag of coins Fei Wang Reed had given him. Syaoran caught it with wide eyes, looking at Kurogane in disbelief. Kurogane gestured to it. “Use it as collateral.”

“Y-Yes!” Syaoran said with a big nod before turning and running after his companions.

Kurogane quickly washed up and ate a small snack. When he was ready, he helped the pirates finish preparing an airship they had hidden behind his house, a small, old looking ship they affectionately called the Shinken. Within a few hours, Kurogane was being lifted into the air again. He just hoped it wasn't a few hours too late; he had no idea just how dangerous of man Fei Wang Reed was, or what he would do to Fai to get what he wanted.

Kamui piloted with Syaoran at his side, who kept an eye on sky conditions and frequently checked a screen on a panel in front of him Kurogane couldn’t see. Sakura and Fuuma sat in the two seats behind Kamui and Syaoran, talking quietly to one another, and Kurogane stood against the back wall since there were no other seats, arms crossed over his chest.

“They’re at Taishaku, right?” Kamui asked. “Fei Wang Reed’s fortress?”

“I didn’t get the name,” Kurogane said. “But yeah, probably. Unless that bastard has more than one.”

“Big, menacing, surrounded by the ocean, unnecessarily scary?” Fuuma chimed in.

“Sounds about right,” Kurogane said with a nod.

“Okay,” Kamui said as he turned the ship. “Then let’s go to Taishaku.”

And in Taishaku, Fai was left alone in his room with only the powered down egg robot to keep him company. He had spent the time after Kurogane left with Fei Wang Reed, who was trying desperately to get Fai to figure out how to use the amulet or power the robot. After failed attempt after failed attempt, Fei Wang Reed left and coldly told Fai they would try again in the morning.

Fai sat on the edge of his bed, staring at the egg robot while he flipped the stone over and over again in his hand. “Maybe I should just give Fei Wang Reed the amulet,” He told the robot. “It would make things easier on me. Then he can figure it out and I can… go home, I guess.”

But then he thought of what Yuuko told him and sighed, hanging his head. He knew, deep down, that he couldn’t hand over the amulet, especially not to someone like Fei Wang Reed. Fei Wang Reed said it was for their own good, but he couldn’t believe him. He had to see for himself what Fei Wang Reed was going to do before he could willingly allow himself to help, or give up the amulet and its supposed incredible power.

Fai looked down at the amulet as he continued to turn it in his palm. “I wonder how Kuro-sama is doing,” He murmured quietly. “I hope he’s safe. And I hope he’s happy, once he gets over being so mad at me for making him go… He'll probably forget about it all soon, anyway...”

Fai swallowed the lump in his throat and shut his eyes. He thought of the events leading him to this moment, that lead him to Kurogane. He thought of the moment his mother gave him the amulet, the vow he made to keep it safe, the spells his mother taught him. He clutched the amulet in his fist.

“ _Heaven and earth,_ ” He recited in a whisper, hoping that the small prayer his mother taught him so long ago would offer some sort of protection for Kurogane. “ _Bear away whatever malady there is. Heaven and earth, to ground let malady go. Let nothing plague him._ ” 

Fai’s eyes snapped open when a bright light burst out of his fist. He dropped the amulet, which was now emitting a beam of pale blue light from where it was hanging against his chest, shooting straight out the window to the right. Before Fai could question what it was pointing to, however, a loud, clunking noise in front of him caught his attention.

Little feet had popped out of the bottom of the robot, along with arms on its sides. A glowing red light appeared at the top, and then two big eyes blinked open like it was alive. The robot waddled over to Fai, who was staring at it with eyes wide in shock and a little bit of fear.

“ _Mekyo!_ ” The robot chirped in a squeaky voice. “I am Mokona!”

“H-Hello,” Fai said with a nervous little wave. “I’m Fai…”

“Mokona can sense that Fai is upset!” Mokona said as it waddled even closer. “What can Mokona do to help? Mokona has 108 special skills to help you with whatever you need!”

“Um…” Fai looked down at the amulet, which was still pointing a beam of light out his window. “Do you know what this is doing?”

“ _Mekyo!_ It’s trying to lead you somewhere!” Mokona told him. “You have to follow it! Mokona will help Fai!”

Fai smiled at the robot and nodded. “Thanks.”

Just then, the door to the room was thrown open, banging loudly against the wall as Fei Wang Reed ran in. Fai jumped to his feet and Mokona moved in front of him. Fei Wang Reed looked at the beam of light pointing out the window, following it all the way to the amulet resting against Fai’s chest.

Fei Wang Reed smiled and stepped towards him. “I knew it,” He said. “I knew you would be able to activate it. And now, I’ll finally be able to find Celes!”

Fei Wang Reed reached out for Fai, but before he could do anything, Mokona blasted him with a weapon Fai wasn’t even able to see, sending him flying to the other side of the room. “You cannot hurt Fai!” Mokona said in the same sweet voice.

“Mokona!” Fai cried in disbelief as he looked over at Fei Wang Reed. The man wasn't badly hurt, just dazed as he tried to sit up from where he landed. Then, realizing his opportunity, Fai yelled, “I-I need you to help me get out of here!”

“ _Mekyo!_ ” Mokona chirped again, and then something like a mouth opened up on the robot, and a bright, powerful blast shot out from it and destroyed the wall in front of them.

And then the robot was no longer waddling, but running faster than Fai could keep up with. Fai ran after the robot as it cleared a path for them, blasting through walls, doors, keeping away guards that tried to intercept them. The ground shook under them as they made their way through, so badly that Fai stumbled into a wall. Choosing to run straight through the walls rather than follow the hallways, Mokona was quickly going to bring the entire fortress down around them.

“Mokona!” Fai yelled over the sounds of stone crashing around them. “Stop, Mokona!”

Mokona, however, didn’t listen, blasting away two people that ran towards them with weapons and through another wall. It continued forward, and Fai had no choice but to follow after it and try to avoid the destruction it was leaving behind.

“Mokona—!” Fai was cut off with a cry as the wall beside him was suddenly blast apart from the outside, sending him flying in the air. He crashed to the ground, catching sight of Mokona flying away as well before rubble fell over him and everything went black.

“What the hell is going on?!” Kurogane yelled from the Shinken as they approached the crumbling Taishaku. “It looks like it’s being blown apart from the inside.”

“Sure does,” Kamui said.

“Look,” Fuuma said as he pointed. “It’s the Veda, Fei Wang Reed’s air destroyer.”

The air destroyer, easily ten times the size of the tiny Shinken, was hovering by the side of the fortress, where a massive chunk was missing from the wall, blasters mounted on it out and pointed at said destroyed wall. Kamui steered the Shinken out of sight from the Veda while still keeping an eye on it in case the blasters turned on them. Kurogane scanned the area as much as he could from where they were, until he saw a blue light glowing from under some rubble and a flash of gold, right in front of where the Veda was pointed.

“There!” Kurogane yelled, pointing. “That’s Fai and the amulet!”

“Were they trying to shoot him specifically?” Fuuma asked. “Was he trying to escape or something? Seems like overkill just to stop one guy...”

“Idiot,” Kurogane hissed as he kept an eye on Fai, who still hadn’t moved. He was passed out, or worse...

Kamui piloted the Shinken to the side of the fortress, where he found another piece of broken wall that would lead them inside. “You and Fuuma go,” Kamui said as he handed Fuuma his blaster. “We’ll be here. Send out a blast if you get stuck somewhere.”

Kamui positioned the Shinken as best he could next to the hole in the wall, leaving Fuuma and Kurogane to jump from the ship into the building. They began running forward as soon as they landed, following the light pouring in from the hole the Veda left and avoiding rubble that kept falling in little chunks around them. "What the hell happened here?!" Fuuma yelled as he jumped to avoid a piece of the ceiling that fell above him. "What could have possibly—!"

Fuuma yelled when a guard jumped out and attacked him, but Kurogane didn’t have time to stop and check on him. He kept running forward, leaving the sounds of blasters behind him, until he could see Fai lying in a pile of rubble. He ran even faster, until he was knelt beside Fai, shielding him from the Veda, which was sitting suspiciously quiet. There was a cut at Fai's temple dripping blood down his pale face and some bruises forming, but he was breathing at the very least. “Fai!” Kurogane called as he pulled Fai from the rubble. The amulet beamed even brighter, a stream of light shooting out from it. Kurogane shook Fai’s shoulders and called his name again, until Fai’s brows pinched together and he blinked his eyes open with a groan.

“What…?” Fai asked as he looked around them, then settled his gaze on Kurogane. “Kuro-sama…? What are you doing here, I thought—“

“I’m saving your dumb ass,” Kurogane interrupted with a sharp grin.

Fai looked up at him in awe, his mouth hanging open. “Kuro-sama…”

“We don’t have time for you to be more of an idiot right now,” Kurogane said as he pulled Fai to his feet. “We have to get out of here. Can you stand?”

Fai nodded as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “I don’t think I’m that hurt.” He put his hand to the wound on his head, pulling it back to look at the blood staining his fingers. He smiled sheepishly. "A bit of a headache."

“We'll deal with it later, let’s go,” Kurogane said with a nod. He grabbed Fai’s wrist, and the two began running.

“Wait!” Fai yelled as he looked around. “Mokona!!”

“What?!” Kurogane yelled back at him.

“Mokona, it’s a robot, it—I need to find it!” Fai cried, but Kurogane just tightened his grip on Fai’s wrist.

“We don’t have time to stop!” Kurogane told him as they ran down the hallway, the ground under them still trembling.

They didn’t get far, however, when suddenly Fai was yanked back by the chain around his neck. Fai cried out as the chain pulled tight and choked him, his hands scrambling at his throat, but the amulet wasn’t there; it was at the back of his neck, clutched in Fei Wang Reed’s hand, who pulled even tighter when the chain refused to snap, until Fai fell to his knees.

“Now that you’ve activated it,” Fei Wang Reed’s said in a breathless voice. “I don’t need you anymore. This will lead the way.”

In his other hand was a dagger that was coming dangerously close to Fai’s throat. Without thinking for even a moment, Kurogane pulled his sword out and cut.

The chain around Fai’s neck broke easily to Kurogane’s blade. Freed, Fai fell forward into Kurogane with a gasp, and Fei Wang Reed fell back, the amulet glowing in his hand. The broken chain slipped from Fai’s neck and fell to the floor as Kurogane grabbed Fai and threw him over one shoulder and ran in the other direction as fast as he could.

As he ran, Fuuma appeared at his side. “You found him!” Fuuma said with a thumbs up as they ran towards the waiting Shinken. There was a cut dripping blood down his cheek, but he otherwise seemed fine after his fight.

They jumped aboard, Kurogane, Fuuma, and Fai falling in a rolling heap on the metal floor as the hatch behind them closed. Fuuma pushed himself up to give Fai and Kurogane some room and watched as Kurogane helped Fai sit up. Fai was rubbing at his neck, which had a bright red indent pressed into it from the chain, and coughing quietly. Fuuma’s eyes narrowed.

“The amulet?” He asked lowly.

At his venomous tone, Kamui stood to look at them, and Sakura and Syaoran watched from behind. Kurogane and Fai shared a look, then Kurogane looked up at Fuuma.

“Fei Wang Reed’s got it,” Kurogane said quietly.

Kamui silently rolled his eyes and fell back into the pilot’s chair. Fuuma turned away, running a hand down his face, then turned back to face Kurogane and Fai. “I told you I’d throw you off my ship,” He said lowly.

“I didn’t take it!” Kurogane said, standing so he could face Fuuma on equal footing. “We can still get it back.”

“How?!” Fuuma yelled.

“Follow Fei Wang Reed,” Fai said from the floor. Everyone in the ship turned to look at him. He looked at each one of them, then stood to walk towards the screen that sat in front of the pilot’s seat, showing their surroundings like a window. He pointed towards the Veda, which was now slowly turning away from the fortress and lifting away. “Fei Wang Reed is following where the amulet is pointing,” Fai said. “If you follow him, you’ll find the amulet.”

“And where exactly is it taking us?” Kamui asked incredulously.

“To Celes, apparently,” Fai answered with a frown.

Fuuma, Kamui, Sakura, and Syaoran all looked at each other. Sakura offered a comforting smile and shrugged her shoulders. “Well… We’re already this far, aren’t we?” She asked.

Kamui sighed and turned back to face the front to steer the ship towards the Veda. “Make sure you keep us out of sight,” Fuuma said.

“Already ahead of you,” Kamui said as he steered the ship up, farther and farther until they were flying within the clouds. The sun was setting, painting everything around them in vivid red and orange. It felt almost as though they were part of the sunset, themselves.

Fai and Kurogane sat together on the floor in the back as they flew. They spent a bit of time treating the wound along Fai's temple, Kurogane's hands steady and careful as he cleaned it and wiped the blood from Fai's cheek. When he finished, Fai sighed and leaned his back against the wall to watch the sunset, the world around them shifting from red, to pink, to purple. Kurogane watched Fai and the way the light reflected in his eyes like still water. Fai blinked eventually and those eyes moved to look at Kurogane, questioning.

“What the hell happened back there?” Kurogane asked quietly.

Fai blinked, then lowered his gaze, frowning. “Mokona…” He looked up at Kurogane, then shook his head and brought his knees up to his chest to rest his chin on. “Fei Wang Reed had this robot that apparently came from Celes. I accidentally activated it and it… said it would help me. It started blowing the place apart to get me out when Fei Wang Reed tried to take the amulet.”

“What did you do to “accidentally” activate it?” Kurogane asked with a raised brow.

Fai thought of the prayer he gave and what he was thinking about when he said it. He cleared his throat quietly and shook his head to remove the thoughts. “I said of the prayers my mother told me about,” He smiled slightly to himself. “I can’t believe they actually work… I thought they were just folklore...”

“Seems like you’re full of surprises,” Kurogane murmured, and when Fai looked at him, Kurogane offered him a small smile.

Outside, the sunset slowly faded darker and darker red. Syaoran left his spot to scamper out of the room returned with wrapped up sandwiches and other little snacks. He smiled shyly at Kurogane and Fai as he handed them their portions, then hurried over to deliver the rest to his crew. The group of them ate in mostly silence, the red of the sunset fading until they were surrounded by darkness, pin pricked with stars.

“Come on,” Fuuma said to Syaoran and Sakura as he stood. “We need to get some rest before we get to… Wherever we’re going.” 

The two teens nodded and followed Fuuma. “Good night!” Sakura said as they passed Kurogane and Fai. Syaoran offered an awkward but well-mannered smile.

Kamui stayed a bit longer. He slowly steered the ship upward even more, until they were above the clouds completely and flying with the stars. He pressed a few buttons, then stood himself. “I’m going to rest, too,” He told Kurogane and Fai. “The ship’s on autopilot. You can find more food out the door to the left if you get hungry again. Sorry we don’t have any extra beds. Take a couple of the chairs.”

Kurogane nodded at him, and Kamui left without another word. Fai looked at Kurogane, then gestured to the now empty chairs in front of them. “Should we get a bit more comfortable?” He asked.

Kurogane nodded, and the two of them moved to the two seats at the front that had previously been occupied by Kamui and Syaoran. Kurogane fell into Syaoran’s chair with a sigh, and Fai curled up in the pilot’s chair, knees pulled up to his chest. Fai rested his chin on his knees and looked up at the sky.

“It’s so beautiful up here,” Fai said quietly after a few minutes of silence passed. Kurogane thought that maybe Fai had spoken to himself, then big blue eyes looked at him and Fai tilted his head. “You said your father was an aviator?”

Kurogane nodded and looked at the sky himself, a blanket of black sprinkled with dots of light. “Yeah. I guess he was pretty used to seeing this.”

“Did he ever take you up with him?” Fai asked.

Kurogane smiled to himself and shook his head. “No. He said I was too young. He always teased me about it, though. He’d always tell me he’d take me up when I got a bit older, then laugh at me when I tried to say I was old enough already.” The smile faded. “...He passed away before he was able to take me with him.”

Fai frowned and looked away. “I’m sorry…”

Kurogane shrugged. “No reason for you to apologize. It was a long time ago.”

“It still hurts though,” Fai said quietly.

Kurogane nodded. “Yeah, it can. But… Can’t focus on the past.”

Fai smiled and looked back at Kurogane. “Kuro-sama says that like it’s easy,” He said softly, and Kurogane snorted. Fai sighed and turned to look at the stars again. “I never thought I’d be up here. I never thought I'd ever even leave Valeria.”

“Yeah,” Kurogane mumbled. “Same here.”

Fai was quiet for a moment. “You know, I… I really don’t care about Celes. I don’t want to go there, I never have. I’d much rather be somewhere like… Like where you live. Just a place to call home.”

“But if it weren’t for Celes, we would have never seen this,” Kurogane said, gesturing out to the window. 

Fai chuckled. “Yeah, that is true.”

“And besides,” Kurogane continued. “We both know we can’t let someone like that asshole get there.”

Fai nodded. “Yeah… That’s true, too.” He swallowed and chewed his bottom lip. “I-I… I hate that so many people are involved in this. You, now the pirates. Even Mokona. It was just a robot but… It got itself killed just trying to help me. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt just because they’re involved with me.”

A warm hand landed on Fai’s arm. “You don’t have to worry about that,” Kurogane told him. “We’re doing this because we want to. You couldn’t stop us even if you tried.” He thought for a moment, then shrugged. “Maybe you could stop Kamui, I don’t think he really wants to be here. But you definitely can’t stop me.”

Fai looked up at Kurogane and smiled softly. “Thank you, Kuro-sama,” He said quietly.

Kurogane regarded Fai for a moment, then pulled his hand back, cleared his throat, and looked out at the stars. “You said you wanted to go somewhere to call home, but… What about Valeria? You don’t want to return there?”

Fai thought about it for a moment, then shrugged one shoulder. “Valeria hasn’t felt like much of a home to me for a long time.” He fell into a moment of thought, then looked at Kurogane and offered a comforting smile. “You and I are kind of similar, Kuro-sama. My family is gone, too. My father left when I was very young. My mother felt like she was already gone long before she passed away; all she cared about was that amulet, after my father left and my… my brother, he—”

Fai stopped suddenly, teeth biting into a trembling lip. He looked away from Kurogane and took a slow, steadying breath. “You don’t have to tell me anything,” Kurogane said in a low voice from beside him. “Your past doesn’t make any kind of difference to me. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

Fai gave Kurogane a glance and tried to smile in acknowledgement, but it was a shaky, fragile little thing. He looked out at the expense of the stars in front of them and sighed. “I suppose all of this did lead to one good thing at least,” He said. “I get to see all of this, and it’s so… Beautiful. It makes the thought of returning to Valeria even harder.”

Fai gave a pitiful little laugh and shook his head in quiet acceptance. Kurogane swallowed, his heart suddenly hammering in his chest and his mouth moving before his mind could process what he was saying. “When this is all over,” He said, “And we’ve stopped Fei Wang Reed from doing… Whatever it is he’s going to do, you can just… come back with me. T-To my town, I mean.”

Fai blinked and looked at Kurogane, but Kurogane was now adamantly avoiding Fai’s eyes. “...Really?” Fai asked quietly.

“Yeah,” Kurogane said with a nod. “You said you wanted to be somewhere like that, and it's not like there's any reason you _have_ to return to Valeria. And I can already tell Tomoyo will love having you there. It’s pretty boring, but it’s not too bad. I’m sure there’s a good fit for you there.”

Fai smiled as Kurogane spoke. He rested his cheek on his bent knee and kept looking at Kurogane and smiling. “Okay then,” He said as Kurogane glanced over at him. “It’s a promise.”

Kurogane offered Fai a smile in return and nodded. The two continued simply looking at each other, until Fai bit into his lower lip nervously and his eyes flicked away. The next moment though, there was something cold over Kurogane’s hand, which was lying on the armrest of the chair. He glanced down and saw Fai’s pale hand resting on his. Kurogane swallowed and looked back at Fai’s face, but Fai was still looking away from Kurogane, his gaze pointed somewhere in the stars, his cheeks flushed pink. Kurogane looked back down at their hands and, ears burning, moved his hand so Fai’s was resting in his palm properly.

Fai sucked in a sharp breath and looked back at their hands, then up at Kurogane’s face. The two of them didn’t say anything, just looked at each other until Fai’s face turned a darker shade of pink and the two of them looked away again.

Slender fingers curled between Kurogane’s, holding their hands together.

\--

Kurogane groaned as he stirred, eyes opening slowly. There was an annoying beeping that wouldn’t stop coming from somewhere around him. He blinked blearily and looked around, trying to remember where exactly he was. The sun was rising outside of the airship, brightening the area around him. He looked to his side and found Fai asleep in his own chair, head resting against his shoulder, lips parted in sleep. Their hands were still held loosely on the armrest between them.

Kurogane swallowed, remembering the conversation they had the previous night and squeezed Fai’s hand. Fai’s brows pinched together and he slowly blinked his eyes open, looking very offended by whatever had woken him up, and Kurogane remembered the beeping. Once Fai was awake and lifted his head, he looked at Kurogane first, then down at their hands, then back up at Kurogane with wide eyes. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t pull his hand away, either.

Kurogane opened his mouth to say something, but Fai blinked and looked at the screen of the airship when something caught his eye. “What is that?” Fai asked, pointing out the window.

Kurogane looked as well. It looked like there was a massive storm ahead of them, dark swirling clouds with random bursts of lightning hovering in midair above the clouds. The beeping was coming from the screen, where a red arrow was blinking at the unknown entity in front of them. Kurogane narrowed his eyes. “It’s…”

The door behind them opened, and the two of them dropped their hands and stood from their seats immediately. Kamui didn’t say anything as he took his seat and began pressing buttons on the control panel. The other three pirates followed in a few moments later, Sakura yawning and rubbing her eyes and looking like she was still half-asleep, each taking their respective seats and leaving Kurogane and Fai to stand off to the side.

Kamui hit a button, and the screen changed, showing a zoomed in image of what was in front of them. “It looks like a... storm?” Fuuma said incredulously.

“It is a storm,” Syaoran said as he looked over his panel. “According to the scan I just took.”

“But… How is it just hovering there?” Sakura asked.

“That’s Celes,” Kurogane said, and everyone looked over at him, confused. “My father found Celes once. He told me, he flew through a storm he didn’t see coming. Next thing he knew, he was flying over a city in the sky.”

“But that’s…” Sakura said, frowning.

“How is that possible?” Kamui asked.

“How is anything having to do with that amulet possible?” Kurogane countered.

Fuuma looked at Kurogane for a long moment. “So you’re saying we have to fly into that thing?”

“Guess so,” Kurogane told him.

Kamui looked back at Fuuma, and Fuuma sighed and nodded. Kamui frowned, turned to take a moment to glare at Kurogane and Fai, then began steering the ship towards the storm. Kamui slowed down once they reached the edge of the storm, and slowly eased the ship into the dark clouds. The ship shuddered around them, but stayed intact, so Kamui continued forward.

Then, there was a loud bang, and the ship shook so hard Kurogane and Fai both almost fell over. They each reached out instinctively and grabbed hands to stay upright.

“What the hell was that?!” Fuuma yelled as he hit a button on the arm of his chair, a small panel lifting up from it so he could see what was happening.

The ship shook again. “It’s the Veda!” Syaoran yelled as his hands flew over his panel, pressing various buttons. “They’re firing on us! The storm is disrupting our sensors—I can’t figure out where they’re firing from!”

Beside him, Kamui was gritting his teeth and doing his best to steer the ship away from the attack, but the ship shook once again. “We can’t take much more!” Sakura yelled.

The ship was hit again, but this time, it took a chunk out of the wall of the ship behind Kurogane and Fai. Without anything holding them down, the two were pulled back by the strong rush of air escaping the ship and thrown out of the ship. Both managed to grab the edge of the blasted wall, holding on for their lives against the onslaught of the storm around them and the wind still being blown out of the ship.

The pirates were all yelling out for them, Kamui tried to steer the ship out of the storm, but the Veda hit the airship again, and the resulting shock caused Kurogane’s fingers to slip. Fai managed to grab Kurogane’s wrist before he could fall, but he was unable to hold them both with just one hand and just a moment later, they both fell away from the ship with yells that echoed out into the storm.

Fai held onto Kurogane’s wrist as tightly as he could to keep them from getting separated. The wind was whipping around him so harshly, he couldn’t open his eyes. He reached out blindly with his other hand until he found Kurogane’s body, and Kurogane pulled his arm in, pulling Fai with it and wrapping his other arm around Fai so he was tucked against Kurogane’s chest. Fai wrapped his arm around Kurogane as well and gripped the back of Kurogane’s shirt in a tight grasp.

“I’m sorry!” Fai yelled against Kurogane’s chest, but his voice got lost under the wind in their ears. They were both about to die, Kurogane was about to die, and it was all his fault.

He thought he heard Kurogane yell something back, but he couldn’t hear, and he was getting dizzier and dizzier as he fell. He tried to open his eyes, but when he did, black tunneled around his vision. He tried to hold onto Kurogane tighter, but he could already feel Kurogane’s grip getting looser as the force of the fall made him pass out.

“Kuro-sama...!” Fai yelled, but his voice was weak now. He tried to open his eyes, but the darkness at the edge of his vision had taken over almost completely, until everything went black.

\--

Fai wasn’t sure how much time passed before he became conscious again. It felt like not even a minute had gone by, but by the time he blinked his eyes open, the sun was blazing high above him, signalling midday. His eyes widened when he realized what had happened and he sat up slowly and carefully, but he felt no pain.

Fai blinked and looked down at his body, patting down his front, wiggling his fingers and toes. He felt… completely fine. He looked around for Kurogane, and found him still passed out, lying on his side some distance away.

“Kuro-sama!” Fai cried as he jumped to his feet and ran over to the man. He knelt beside Kurogane and turned him over. There was a cut along Kurogane’s cheek bone and a drop of blood dripping down tanned skin, but he seemed unharmed other than that. “Kuro-sama…?”

Fai shook Kurogane’s shoulder gently, afraid of possible unseen injuries. Kurogane groaned and woke up slowly, blinking his eyes open against the bright sun above them. “What the hell…?” Kurogane groaned as his eyes settled on Fai. “You okay?”

Fai smiled in relief. “I’m fine. What about you?”

Kurogane sat up and looked himself over, moved his arms and legs and rolled his neck. “Doesn’t seem like anything’s broken,” He said as he looked down at his hands. “Which is strange.”

“Yeah,” Fai agreed. He wiped the blood from Kurogane’s cheek with his sleeve. “I thought for sure we were both dead.”

The two of them looked around. “So if we didn’t fall all the way to the earth to our deaths,” Kurogane said quietly. “Then this must be…”

“Celes,” Fai said with a nod. He stood and held a hand out to help Kurogane up. Kurogane took the offering and pulled himself up as well, and together the two looked around.

They stood at the top of the cliff, one side sloping down in a hill, the other cutting off in a steep drop. Under their feet, the grass was frosted white and above them, the storm from before seemed nonexistent, a pale blue winter sky hanging above them instead.

Fai walked towards the edge of the cliff and Kurogane followed close behind. Fai stopped when he had a view of what was below them, his eyes going wide. “This is… Celes?”

Sprawled out before them was a large abandoned city, houses and buildings crumbling from age and decay. The only part of it that seemed to be intact was a large building in the center of the city, shaped like a dome that almost seemed to be growing from the ground itself. The center building and everything around it was covered in snow and ice, frozen white.

“I guess it’s been a while since anyone’s been here,” Kurogane muttered at Fai’s side. “It's normal it'd be falling apart. You think Fei Wang Reed will go to that building in the middle?”

Before Fai could give his opinion, the ground beneath them trembled so strongly, they both fell backwards onto the ground. Fai began to lift himself up again, but Kurogane’s hand on the back of his neck pushed him back down, so he was flat on his stomach. Silently, Kurogane pointed. Keeping himself as hidden as possible, Fai peered out over the edge of the cliff in the direction Kurogane was pointing and saw the Veda powering down after its heavy landing in what looked to be the open town square.

“I guess we’ll find out soon,” Fai said quietly, shooting Kurogane a nervous smile.

Kurogane nodded, then pointed again. “Look,” He said as people began disembarking from the Veda. “It’s the pirates.”

Fai nodded when he saw Fuuma, Kamui, Syaoran, and Sakura, all bound and being forced out of the ship by numerous guards. Following them, Fai saw the glow of the amulet as Fei Wang Reed stepped out with Kyle behind him. He stopped to say something to the guards holding the pirates, then waved his hand and continued forward, into the ruined city and towards the center sphere, and Kyle went a different direction, into the decrepit city. The guards surrounding the pirates lifted their weapons, while the other members of Fei Wang Reed’s crew ran into the abandoned city. They ran to random buildings, broke open doors and smashed through windows to stuff their bags with whatever treasures they could find and then move onto the next one.

“What do we do?” Fai whispered as he watched Fei Wang Reed stride through the iced over streets. “We have to stop him, but we also need to save Fuuma and the others…”

“I think I can handle them,” Kurogane said as he gestured to the guards surrounding the pirates.

“Kuro-sama,” Fai said in a scolding tone. “They’re so many of them, and all you have is a sword.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Kurogane asked with a raised brow. “You think I can’t take them after how many times I’ve saved your ass?”

Fai frowned at Kurogane, looking between him and the guards. “I have an idea,” He finally said as he slowly moved back from the edge of the cliff so he could stand. “Just follow my lead, okay?”

“It’s not something stupid, is it?” Kurogane asked as he stood as well.

Fai smiled at him. “We’ll see.”

And then, the two were off, carefully running down the hill and then into the town and towards the Veda. They wove through houses as they entered the city, keeping out of sight of the men plundering the town. As they began to reach the Veda, Kurogane put his hand on the hilt of his sword, prepared to pull it out and fight.

Before he could though, Fai pushed him so hard, he fell behind one of the houses with a grunt, out of sight, and Fai continued forward into the square.

The sound of Kurogane’s crash caused the guards facing the pirates to turn, their weapons raised. Fai skidded to a halt in front of them and smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

“Oh, funny running into you guys here,” He said with a nervous laugh.

“Fai-san!” Sakura cried.

“That’s the one Fei Wang Reed told us to keep an eye out for!” One of the guards said.

“Uh…” Fai looked between the guards in front of him. “Any way I could change your mind…?”

“Get him!”

Fai turned and ran as fast as he could, blasts firing around his feet. One blast knocked Fai off balance, and he crashed to the ground so hard the ice scratched along the side of his face. Without a moment to get up, two pairs of hands were on him, forcing him to his feet. “Let go of me!” Fai cried dramatically as he flailed around wildly. He took a brief moment of shaking his head back and forth to quickly look back at where the pirates had been held to see that the spot was now empty, briefly catching the gleam of a sword in someone’s hand disappearing behind the ship.

Before Fai could celebrate, two more guards grabbed onto him to still him as the others ran back to where they had lost the pirates, and he was being dragged towards the dome. 

“You don’t have to carry me the whole way,” Fai said as his feet were dragged along the frosted pavement. “I can walk.”

“Shut up,” One of the guards growled at him.

Fai looked over his shoulder as best he could with the way the guards were holding him; he couldn’t see Kurogane or the pirates, so he hoped that meant they had managed to get far away from the Veda and guards. Hopefully they’d manage to escape Celes altogether. 

Fai smiled to himself as he thought it, because he knew that, despite his hopes, there was no way Kurogane would escape without him, the stubborn idiot.

When they reached the sphere in the center of the city, Fai was dragged inside, through a set of doors and thrown to the floor, and then the guards turned and left. Fai pushed himself up onto his hands and looked up. Fei Wang Reed was standing in front of him, the amulet in his hand and a large Fluorite crystal twice his size hovering in the center of something that looked almost like a dead control panel that circled entirely around the crystal. Fei Wang Reed was turning the amulet in his hand, observing the small crystal, then looked over at Fai.

“I wanted you to see this,” Fei Wang Reed told him. “I felt you deserved to see what I was working so hard for. This,” He held up the amulet, “Is the key to everything.”

Fai stood as Fei Wang Reed turned to the control panel and saw that in the center of the panel was a slot, surrounded in a circle of runes. Fei Wang Reed lowered the amulet into the slot where it fit perfectly, and the control panel suddenly was brought to life. The runes surrounding the amulet began glowing pale blue, the light spreading across the entire panel and to the large crystal in the center until the room was humming with power.

Fei Wang Reed put his hand on the control panel and pressed something, and Fai stumbled when it felt like the entire city shook under his feet. “A bit rusty,” Fei Wang Reed said to himself. “But that is to be expected after being dormant for so long. It still works, though.”

“What still works?” Fai asked incredulously, eyes narrowed.

Fei Wang Reed turned to look at Fai with a smile. “The entire reason we are here.” He pressed something on the panel, and a holographic screen flickered to life in front of them. It wasn’t completely clear, but Fai could see that it was showing a fuzzy image of the Veda. 

Fei Wang Reed toyed with the panel again, and Fai felt the same rumble under his feet. The large Fluorite crystal glowed even brighter, and then a large blast shot out from the sphere aimed at the Veda, destroying it in one hit.

“No!!” Fai cried as he watched pieces of the Veda fall to the ground, the area around it burning. 

_Kuro-sama,_ Fai thought as he watched the wreckage, wide eyes jumping over every inch of the screen. _Where is he?!_

The crew and guards from the Veda were running around the area in a panic. Another blast shot out, smaller this time but large enough to blast the area the men were in, surely killing them instantly. Fai’s eyes widened and he turned from the screen to Fei Wang Reed.

“What are you doing?!” He yelled. “Those are _your_ men!”

Fei Wang Reed was looking up at the crystal with awe in his eyes. “This weapon will change everything,” He said, more to himself than to Fai. “With this, we can swiftly put an end to any conflict we face.”

Fai clenched his hands into trembling fists. “What about Celes “posing a threat”? It seems to me that the only threat here is you.”

Fei Wang Reed finally turned to face Fai. “In the wrong hands, this weapon could threaten us. We had to get to it before anyone else, to ensure it wouldn’t be… misused.”

“Misused…?” Fai said quietly, so in disbelief that he felt like he could barely speak. “You needlessly killed your own men… And you’re worried about others misusing it?”

“They didn’t understand,” Fei Wang Reed said flippantly. “With this in our hands, we can bring world peace!”

“Peace through threat isn’t peace!” Fai yelled, voice shaking with rage and fear.

Fei Wang Reed shook his head with a sigh. “It seems you share the same idealistic mentality that they do,” He said. He pressed something on the panel and they felt the familiar tremble of the weapon moving. “But it’s no matter. It doesn’t matter who opposes me, since nothing will be able to stop me with this.”

Fai narrowed his eyes. “No, I won’t let you!” He yelled as he lunged for the amulet.

Fei Wang Reed pulled a blaster from his coat and held it to Fai’s chest. Fai came to a sudden halt just before he could reach the amulet, eyeing the blaster. “You are the last living descendant of the Celesian royal family,” Fei Wang Reed said calmly. “I don’t want to kill you, but I will if I must.”

“Fei Wang Reed!!”

Fai and Fei Wang Reed both looked towards the doors, and there was Kyle, glaring at Fei Wang Reed with murder in his eyes. He stalked into the room, pulling his own blaster out to point at Fei Wang Reed.

“You son of a bitch,” Kyle hissed as his blaster hummed to life. “You killed all those men in cold blood! I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you.”

“Perhaps not,” Fei Wang Reed said. The hand still on the panel moved, and the floor from beneath Kyle’s feet opened up like a trap door to the blue sky below Celes.

Fai cried out and just as quickly, Kyle fell to his death. And with Fei Wang Reed still looking at where Kyle had been and without even a split second to think, Fai reached, grabbed the amulet from the panel, and ran. He heard Fei Wang Reed yell behind him as he ran out the doors of the room, stumbling as a blast hit the edge of the door next to his head, but he continued running.

Fai couldn’t see where he was going, he just ran, ran as fast as he could. Blasts whizzed by him, just barely missing him and one managing to graze his ear and cheek. He turned down random hallways, past cracked walls and broken doors, trying to hide himself in the massive building. It worked, since the blasts eventually stopped coming. He kept running though, now trying to find a way out before Fei Wang Reed could find him again.

_“Fai!”_

Fai looked around himself. Had he just heard…?

“Fai!!!”

Fai smiled. “Kuro-sama!!” He yelled back.

Kurogane continued calling Fai’s name, and Fai tried his best to follow its sound. He burst through a set of doors that opened to a wide room lined with dusty decorative tapestries along its walls, a massive throne sitting on the opposite side.

“Fai!” Kurogane yelled, his voice so clear it had to be coming from the same room and yet… Fai couldn’t see him.

“Kuro-sama?!” Fai yelled, panting. His steps slowed as he gasped for breath. “Where are you?”

“Over here!” Kurogane called.

Fai walked deeper into the room, looking around. Then he spotted a large crack in the corner behind the throne, just large enough for Kurogane’s waving hand to fit through. Fai ran over to the crack in the wall and collapsed in front of it, panting.

“Fai,” Kurogane said through the crack. “Are you okay?”

“Here!” Fai shoved the amulet through the crack into Kurogane’s hand. “You have to get rid of it, Kuro-sama. Destroy it or throw it in the ocean, it doesn’t matter just— _gah!_ ”

Fai cried out when a hand closed in his hair and yanked him back from the wall. The hand released his hair to wrap around his neck instead, pushing his back against the wall so a blaster could be pointed under his chin.

“I should have killed you a while ago,” Fei Wang Reed hissed, panting. “All you’ve done is get in the way! But before I get rid of you, you’re going to give me the amulet back!”

Fai grasped at the hand choking his neck to pull it away, but Fei Wang Reed’s grip was strong. He managed to open one eye so he could look at Fei Wang Reed as he said, “Y-You’ll never truly… Have the power… You want! We’re not… not meant for the… heavens—!”

Fei Wang Reed cut Fai off sharply by choking him tighter. “Save your preaching,” Fei Wang Reed told him as the blaster lit with power. “If you won’t give me the amulet, then I’ll take it from your corpse!”

“Hey!” Kurogane yelled from the other side of the wall. “He doesn’t have it, asshole, I do! But I’ll throw it off the edge of the city if you hurt him!”

Fei Wang Reed immediately released Fai, who slid to the ground with coughing gasps. “Give it to me, now!” Fei Wang Reed yelled sharply.

“Not yet,” Kurogane said. “I’ll only hand it to Fai to give to you. But only if you let me speak to him first.”

“If I don’t have that amulet in one minute,” Fei Wang Reed said as he pointed his blaster at Fai’s head. “He’s dead.”

Fai got close to the crack again, kneeling low in an attempt to see Kurogane. “What are you doing?” He whispered quickly. “I don’t matter, you need to get rid of it!”

“Fai,” Kurogane whispered, so quietly even Fai could barely hear him. “You have the power to stop this. You know the spells.”

Kurogane put his hand halfway through the crack, the amulet held in his palm, and Fai met it. He clasped his hand over Kurogane’s, the amulet held between them.

“I-I… I don’t…” Fai whispered. “I can’t—”

“You _can,_ ” Kurogane interjected. “I know you can.”

Fai took in a deep, shuddering breath. “Let’s go home after this,” He whispered to Kurogane.

“Yeah,” Kurogane said with a smile in his voice. “I promised, didn’t I?”

Fai smiled to himself, then shut his eyes. He thought of all of the spells his mother taught him so many years ago, prayers he believed to be nothing but folklore until his life was flipped on its head. Spells to offer protection, and spells to offer destruction.

 _“Throw aside the unobservant ones, and let the murderous point smite with its fiery blaze,”_ Fai whispered. _“Let your evil heat seethe against the one who speaks evil.”_

Suddenly, a force pushed Fai back from the wall, and the amulet in his hand released a light so bright, it was like the world itself had been whited out. The ground beneath them began shaking violently, so much so that Fai could see the cracks in the wall growing and splintering when the brightness faded and his vision came back.

“What have you done?!” Fei Wang Reed yelled as he stumbled towards Fai, the tremors in the ground growing stronger. He grabbed the front of Fai’s shirt, but there was a loud _crack_ from somewhere nearby accompanied with a sharp shock wave that passed through the ground that caused Fei Wang Reed and Fai to fall away from each other, and then the world went still and silent. Fei Wang Reed looked around with wide eyes. “No… The crystal, it’s been disconnected but… How could you…?”

The ground shook again, the quakes stronger than before, the cracks growing until large pieces of stone fell from the ceiling as the building fell apart around them, and the ground cracked under them. There was another violent tremble, and a piece of the ground split apart completely, growing wider until the blueness of the sky under them appeared, pulling the sphere above them apart with it. Fai covered his head with his hands as more large pieces of the building fell, unable even to stand as the building and city itself cracked apart.

“I’ll kill you!” Fei Wang Reed yelled, and Fai looked up to see Fei Wang Reed running towards him. “You’ve caused Celes to fall! You ruined everything!”

Fai scrambled back from Fei Wang Reed until his back was pushed against the wall, trapping him. Before he could try to get up to run away, a boulder sized piece of stone fell between them, the ground under it and in front of Fei Wang Reed cracking and crumbling away into the sky. Fei Wang Reed yelled as he tried to run back from the crack growing in front of him, but the ground was falling too quickly, and the next step he took fell out from under him and sent him into the sky below.

Fai watched Fei Wang Reed fall to his death with wide eyes, shocked still. More and more pieces of the building fell away, the ground around them becoming smaller and smaller as the city was torn at the seams. The crack that had been in the wall grew in size until the wall split entirely. A hand grabbed Fai’s arm and pulled him towards a warm body.

“Kuro-sama!” Fai yelled as he wrapped his arms around Kurogane. The wind was rushing around them now that the building was almost entirely gone, the sounds of the city falling apart deafening. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know—!”

“Don’t apologize!” Kurogane yelled back at him. A hand smoothed over Fai’s hair. “You did the right thing!”

The ground around them continued to grow smaller and smaller as Celes fell away. It would only be a short matter of time before the ground under them fell, as well. Fai pulled back to look up at Kurogane, and he was met with warm, beautiful crimson eyes looking back at him and a comforting smile on Kurogane’s lips.

Fai opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came to mind. Nothing that could adequately describe what he was feeling, anyway. Only a few days had passed, yet his life had changed entirely. Only a few days had passed, yet he felt as though he could never let go of the man in his arms.

Fai was about to lean up to kiss Kurogane, but Kurogane was quicker, pulling Fai in closer so he could initiate it first, and Fai fell into it with ease. He held onto Kurogane tighter, his heart singing like the wind whistling in his ear. It felt unfair, that he was experiencing something so amazing only moments before his death, but it almost made it all feel worth it. If only he could have saved Kurogane, but if there was one thing Fai knew now better than anything, it was that Kurogane would refuse to abandon Fai instead of help him, even if it led to his own death.

They pulled apart, and Kurogane looked at Fai with the same soft smile from before. Fai hoped that, whatever happened to his soul after he died, he’d at least be able to remember that one moment.

“Thank you,” Fai said. He wasn’t even sure if Kurogane could hear him, but Kurogane nodded, and pulled Fai’s head to his chest, holding onto him tightly as the ground beneath them finally cracked and sent them falling together.

Hovering among the remains of the destroyed city of Celes was the Shinken. The pirates looked on at what used to be the city of Celes, now just made up of small pieces of land with little pieces of glowing Fluorite in them floating aimlessly, the rest of the city having fallen away entirely.

“I can’t believe it…” Sakura said as she watched the scene sadly.

“How could this have happened?” Syaoran asked. “And so quickly… It feels like magic...”

“I don’t know,” Kamui said with a somber shake of his head.

“We’d be dead if it wasn’t for Kurogane and Fai…” Fuuma said quietly. “And now they’re…”

Sakura quietly wiped at her eyes. Syaoran watched the hovering pieces of Celes sadly. Then he noticed something, something faint and blue in the midst of the pieces of earth around them. “What’s that?” He asked, pointing towards it.

Kamui narrowed his eyes and zoomed the screen in. “Holy…” He whispered.

“It’s them!” Sakura cried in disbelief and happiness.

Surrounded by a glowing, pale blue light and floating with the remnant pieces of Celes were Kurogane and Fai, holding tightly onto each other. Fuuma laughed to himself. “These guys just won’t die, huh?”

“We have to get them!” Sakura said. “Hurry, Kamui!”

Kamui nodded and carefully guided the Shinken into the space where Celes had been. Once they were close enough, Fai and Kurogane both slowly lifted their heads and looked at the airship coming towards them with as much shock as the pirates. Fuuma went to the hatch and carefully helped the two on board, and the light glowing around them faded once they were standing on solid ground.

“I can’t believe you two are okay!” Sakura said as she ran from her seat to greet them.

“Us too,” Kurogane said as he looked at Fai.

Fai held the amulet in his palm. “It saved us,” He said. “Again.”

“It’s a trusty little thing,” Fuuma said with a smile.

“Yeah…” Fai frowned and closed his fist over the amulet. He looked up at Fuuma, and then at the other pirates. “I’m sorry, but I can’t give this to you. It’s too dangerous. It needs to be hidden away or destroyed, whatever it takes to ensure no one will ever find it again.”

Fuuma shrugged one shoulder. “We figured you say something like that,” He said. “But it’s okay! We only wanted it so we could sell it. But we managed to find a ton of treasure on Celes, so we’re fine!”

“How did you survive?” Fai asked. “I saw the Veda get destroyed…”

“Kurogane helped us,” Kamui said with the first semblance of a smile that Fai and Kurogane had seen since meeting him. “He freed us from the guards so we could get our ship from the Veda. We managed to get it in time before it was destroyed, and get some scrap to patch that hole.” He gestured to the wall, where a piece of metal crudely covered the hole Kurogane and Fai had fallen from in the storm.

“Which, by the way… What exactly happened out there?” Fuuma asked, looking between Kurogane and Fai.

“At least sit down while you talk,” Kamui said with a flippant wave of his hand as he turned in his seat to face the screen. “I want to get out of here and we’re going to have to go through that storm again.”

Fuuma winked at Kurogane and Fai and returned to his seat with Sakura. With still no seats of their own, Kurogane and Fai sat in the back on the floor with a sigh. They leaned against each other a bit, exhausted and without energy to hold themselves up as the Shinken shook while it passed through the storm. Fai felt so comfortable and warm pressed against Kurogane’s side, he knew if he closed his eyes he’d fall asleep immediately.

“Where am I going?” Kamui asked when they reached clear skies once again.

“Take us home,” Kurogane told him. Fai lifted his head and looked at Kurogane, smiling faintly, and Kurogane returned the smile with one of his own.

“So,” Fuuma said as he turned to look at them, immediately breaking the moment. “Don’t think I forgot. I still want to know what happened.”

“Yeah, it was crazy!” Syaoran said, his eyes sparkling with excitement as he also looked back at them. “We were in the city and all of a sudden, a huge blast came from that dome and destroyed the Veda! And more came and hit the remaining soldiers!”

“Was that you?” Kamui asked without looking at them.

“I wasn’t there,” Kurogane said as he looked at Fai.

Fai smiled nervously with all eyes on him. “Well…”

As Kamui piloted them back to Kurogane’s house, Fai told them the story, explaining the crystal, the weapon, what Fei Wang Reed did, and what he had to do to stop Fei Wang Reed. By the end of the story, Sakura and Syaoran were out of their seats and sitting on the floor in front of Fai, waiting eagerly for the next piece of the story.

“And then… You found us,” Fai said with a smile.

“Whoa…” Sakura and Syaoran both said at the same time.

“We’re here,” Kamui said as the Shinken began slowly lowering itself closer to the ground. “Sit down in your seats.”

Sakura and Syaoran both scrambled up to return to their seats and strapped in as Kamui landed the airship in front of Kurogane’s house. Once safely landed, Syaoran and Sakura jumped out of their seats again, and the pirates followed Kurogane and Fai out to see them off.

“You know, you guys are pretty formidable,” Fuuma said to them. “We could add a couple extra seats in the Shinken if you two wanted.”

Kurogane and Fai looked at each other. “I think I’ve had enough adventure for now,” Kurogane said.

“Why don’t you ask us again when you have something really fun come up?” Fai asked. “We could be like… Contracted workers.”

Kamui snorted and shook his head. “If anything else is going to be like the last few days with you guys, it’s going to be a hard _no._ ”

“I’ll let you guys know,” Fuuma said with a grin and a wink.

“I’m going to miss you,” Sakura said with a little smile. “Can we visit?”

“Sure, as long as you’re not trying to kill us again,” Kurogane said with a shrug.

Syaoran’s face flushed. “Sorry about that… But Fai-san, I’d love to get a chance to talk to you more about the amulet and what your mom taught you about it! And the spells, like the one you used against Fei Wang Reed!”

“Syaoran really likes things like this,” Fuuma told them.

Fai laughed and nodded. “Sure, any time you’re nearby, come say hi!”

“We should get going,” Kamui said, looking pointedly at Sakura and Syaoran.

“Right,” Fuuma said with a nod. “This was fun guys. We’ll probably see each other again soon.”

“Not too soon,” Kurogane retorted.

“Goodbye Fai-san, goodbye Kurogane-san!” Sakura said with a polite smile.

“We’ll see you later!” Syaoran said with a wave.

Fai waved back and Kurogane stood with his arms crossed as the pirates returned to the ship, and it lifted from the ground to take off once again. Kurogane and Fai watched it until it was almost out of sight, and then looked at each other. 

Fai looked down at the amulet still in his hand. “What should we do with this?”

“We’ll figure something out,” Kurogane said with a shrug. “After we get a little rest, that is. For now, how about we just… go home?”

Fai looked up at Kurogane, unable to stop his lips from splitting in a grin. “I’d like that,” He said.

Kurogane nodded, and without another word, he took Fai’s hand and led him home.

**Author's Note:**

> The prayers Fai recites are paraphrased from some verses from _The Rigveda_


End file.
